Monday, February 02, 2009

Birthday brunch #1

BalthazarSpring at Crosby (Soho)

Alexis: In a very generous and loving gesture, Michael and Seth treated both me AND Alex to brunch at Balthazar this weekend for my birthday. They were not going to be able to make brunch on Sunday, and Michael and I have been planning to brunch here for pretty much as long as we've known each other. So he made reservations over two weeks ago and nabbed the last 1pm reservation.

Alexis: We started with the bread basket, which was stuffed with all kinds of delicious carbs: sliced cocoa bread, a sticky pecan toffee bun, some sort of mini sweet brioche, and a lot of different fruit+nut breads. Can't decide on which I liked the best but the cocoa bread was definitely a surprise. The sticky bun and mini brioche were also delicious. Could've just eaten this for my meal!

Alex: Oooohhh bread... you are the death of me. I love bread, good bread. And this bread was delicious. Okay, so the sticky bun and brioche were closer to pastries. All I can say is if you go to Balthazar get the bread basket, even if you just take it home. My favorites were the sticky bun, and chocolate bread. Amazing.

Alexis: Alex's entree, the Eggs Benedict.

Alex: The eggs benedict was very good, but got super sloppy on my plate. The bread was a little hard to cut (or the knife was dull as hell) so everything just slid around my plate into one jumbled mess. But it all gets jumbled into an even bigger mess in my stomach, so who cares!

Alexis: I order Moules Frites a lot and most of the time they get it wrong. But this was spot on, with fresh mussels and a delicious, simple broth. Crisp fries and aioli to finish this off - I ate all but maybe 3-4 mussels.

Alexis: Overall very good food and service. The bloody marys were done well too - simple and not tasting like cocktail sauce. As it is quite pricey here, I'd save it only for special occasion dining. Or just head to the Boulangerie next door for tea and pastries. Thank you again Michael and Seth!